A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 746
Ma Guoxi was silent. To be honest, he couldn't figure out what Wang Dou was going to do, and as Li Banghua said, it was true that there would be redundant officials in the Anbei Governor's Mansion in Xuanfu Town in the future.

Strengthening local control is what Ma Guoxi agrees with, but the current situation is clearly developing towards redundant administration.

In the early days of the Kingdom, a few officials and some minor officials in a prefecture and county could govern a huge area, but now, the number of officials in the whole country is more than ten times that of the beginning of the Kingdom?It is a heavy burden to collect money and food every year to support officials and officials.

Looking at Wang Dou's actions now, the officials have been further refined.

Taking Baoanzhou as an example, in the past, there were only one official, six official officials, six official officials, and one commissioner, and the rest were Confucianism, Yinyang Department, Medical Department, Seng Dao Department, Yongxing Cang, Beihuangcang, etc. One or two officials.

But up to now, the number of people receiving salaries has probably increased several times. Ma Guoxi doesn't understand how Wang Dou will support these officials in the future.

As for Li Banghua's treacherous generation, Ma Guoxi didn't take it seriously. The reason why Li Xu was so harmful was because they had long occupied the local area and had no hope of promotion.

Many people work all their lives and are still low-level officials, without even a rank, so they are even more fond of money.In addition, it is necessary to occupy the local area, from father to son, from son to grandson, from generation to generation, and become a deep-rooted powerful force, which can fool officials and control the local area.

In fact, this is easy to solve. Just like an official, you can work in a different place. Guan Wangdou does the same. Every time you recruit an official, you don’t always work in the city of this castle, but transfer to another place. Although it is not as good as an official, you need to avoid it One province or several provinces, or even a north-south swap, is enough.

Moreover, these officials still have the hope of being promoted. Climbing up one level at a time, from the department level to the ministerial level, is enough for these small officials to struggle.

The highest level of officials is not from the ninth rank. Like officials, they have their own direction of struggle. Ma Guoxi thinks this is Wang Dou's magical stroke.

He didn't want to deny it all, and finally said: "The Marquis of Yongning is not completely going astray. I think the meaning of the Marquis of Yongning is obviously eclectic. He expands the recruitment of talents, and even pays more attention to clear laws, clear calculations, and clear books. Specialist, this is a common and practical material in the local area."

He said: "The imperial examination has been full of disadvantages so far. In the early days of the country, it was still able to be eclectic and recruit talents through recommendation, imperial examination, and officials. Later, the imperial examination was gradually dedicated, and the imperial examination was especially important. Juren and Gongsheng are greatly undervalued, and Jinshi is more important. The disadvantages have accumulated for two to three hundred years, and the Marquis of Yongning is trying to eradicate chaos anyway."

Li Banghua opened his mouth, but finally listened. After all, what Ma Guoxi said was also true.

Just listen to Ma Guoxi's deep voice: "Besides, officials who are close to the people should mainly be familiar with local important affairs. Just like county magistrates in the Han Dynasty, those who take more from the county officials, especially those who are different from the county officials, are invincible because they are familiar with their affairs. However, looking at the country At present, the selection is too narrow, and most of the scholars are ignorant of practical affairs, so how can they be local powerful opponents?"

He said: "The affairs of local state officials are still very complicated now. As a county magistrate, he handles the taxes of tens of thousands of households. His eyes are more complicated than in the past. Don't you look panic and let the local government dictate? Familiar with the local officials and officials, all of them use real materials, and they should be able to clamp down on the local evil officials and squires!"

He finally said: "Although I still have doubts, I am afraid that there will be redundant officials in the future, but right now, the policy of the Marquis of Yongning is a good way to change the country's long-standing shortcomings. I will wait and see what happens in the future."

Having said that, Ma Guoxi picked up the wine glass in front of him and drank it down.

Li Banghua's eyes sparkled, and he couldn't help standing up.

Indeed, up to now in the Ming Dynasty, the system of selecting officials to appoint officials has been full of drawbacks, especially the imperial examination system has been criticized by all parties.

Up to now in the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi is the most valuable, but these Jinshi are all familiar with stereotyped essays, and the candidates for local, prefecture and county officials are basically these scholars who have just released brown books. Among these people, ten of them are familiar with official affairs. Not one or two, and the weak and incompetent are among the eighty-nine.

The appointment of officials was not carefully selected, and the method of selection was often based on probing and bidding, which finally resulted in the situation that "the people who are not talented are paid with the life of a hundred miles, not only to harm the people, but also to harm themselves". .

It stands to reason that all local officials should be appointed by people who are familiar with local affairs. However, looking at the stereotyped clerks above, they are obviously unqualified.

Moreover, even though Daming is still studying the three subjects of Mingfa, Mingshu, and Mingzi, their status is far less prestigious than that of Jinshi. The selection of these specialized talents will only serve in institutions related to the profession after admission.

Just like the Mining and Computing Department of the Guozijian, which is responsible for the engineering, budget, and financial affairs of the entire country. The things are very important, but the status is very low, and the promotion space is limited, so every student is unwilling to take these three subjects.

On the contrary, scholars who did well in stereotyped essays had a wide job space and rapid promotion.

How could Li Banghua not know about the country's accumulated evils?However, reform, where does it start?
When it comes to the conduct of officials, they are actually not much better. They are not much better than officials. Scholars who have read the books of sages are full of greed and arrogance when they finally become officials, and they have no desire to serve the country.

There is also a strange situation, the poorer the background, the poorer the people who study hard, the more greedy they are in the end, and there is always a tendency to want money rather than life.

Li Banghua has been in the Metropolitan Procuratorate for many years, and he actually understands the thoughts of these people.

Officials from rich and powerful families are like full-fledged wolves and leopards, and they have to pay attention to how they eat. Officials from poor families don’t care about it. Wolf!
What's more, they only read the books of sages and sages, and they don't listen to things outside the window. They are usually bookworms.
After thinking about it, Li Banghua gave a long sigh at last. Perhaps, we can see where Yongninghou's official assessment system will go in the future.

Although he thinks that there are many problems in this law, the conduct of special officials does not reassure him.After all, officials at all levels and parents' officials are the officials who are closest to the people, and their moral qualities are directly related to local governance and the suffering of the people's livelihood.

He chanted: "Take the officials and blame the dead half. If the owner wants to be close to the people, he must first kiss the officials of the herdsmen, and then the achievements of peace can be expected... I will wait and see!"

……

Li Banghua decided to stop here for the journey of private visits in microservices. Along the way, the continuous exciting things have made him unbearable, and he doesn't want to go to the "dragon pool and tiger den" in Zhoucheng, for fear that what he hears and sees will make him vomit three liters of blood .

Next, the two ordered a meal and chatted about some light things. Ma Guoxi ordered a table of food, the two drank together, and a few attendants opened another table next to them.

Seeing that there were fish and meat on the table, and the meals were very sumptuous, Li Banghua said seriously, "Why so much money?"

Li Banghua admired Ma Guoxi more and more. Although the two had different factions and conflicted political ideas, Li Banghua felt that Ma Guoxi was loyal, filial and righteous despite what he said and did. Having Ma Guoxi stationed in the East Road also made Li Banghua A little peace of mind.

However, in the old official system like theirs, now there is no gray income, and it is not easy to accumulate money and food on weekdays. During this journey, Ma Guoxi's personal food and drink are all paid for by Ma Guoxi, which makes Li Banghua feel a little sorry.

Ma Guoxi said with a smile: "It's okay. Actually, although the banquet looks rich, it doesn't cost much. Even the table for the entourage is only one yuan and fifty cents. The most expensive ones are these wines. After all, there are laws in Xuanfu Town Laws, brewers, are heavily taxed."

"One circle and five cents?"

Li Banghua was surprised, the food for the two tables was only one tael or five taels of silver?
Of course he knew about the silver coins in Xuanfu Town, a silver coin "contains [-]% silver", which is a real discount of one tael of gold and silver.Also because almost every piece has the same shape, color, and weight, one can be used as another, not to mention in Xuanfu Town, even now in the capital, the value is very strong.

Many rich families like to use the silver coins from Xuanfu Town, which is simple and convenient, and saves the trouble of checking the quality and weight of silver coins in the past.

The acceptance rate among the people is also very high. Of course, silver coins and other idlers are rare to see, but copper coins are used by many ordinary people.

What surprised Li Banghua was the low prices here. In the capital, there are not many silver dollars for these two tables of food, and it is only [-] yuan and [-] cents here?
Ma Guoxi said: "Yes, this is because the price of goods in Baoanzhou is relatively high. If it is placed in Huailai City, it will be cheaper."

He said with a smile: "If you use food stamps, you will spend even less."

Li Banghua said: "Food stamps?"

Ma Guoxi introduced that the price of goods in Xuanfu Town is roughly equivalent to the price in the Wanli period. One silver dollar can almost buy a rice and one stone. , which is equivalent to about 350 yuan.

Moreover, because the credit of food stamps has been affirmed, more and more people are using food stamps, especially those local military households in Xuanfu Town, who use food stamps for many large transactions. After all, light paper money is relatively heavy. The silver dollar is more advantageous.

Only outsiders are still suspicious, most of them are using silver and copper coins.

Li Banghua pondered: "The price here is low, so there will be no merchants who buy grain and rice, hoard them, and transport them to other places for profit?"

Ma Guoxi chuckled: "Of course, businessmen are all profitless and can't afford the early generation. How can they not see this?"

He said: "The key lies in the grain store in Xuanfu Town!"

He said: "The grain store in Xuanfu Town, according to the law, has the right to purchase grain from military households first. Every city and fort has sufficient reserves. When the folk grain is cheap, they will buy it at a high price to prevent the grain from being hurt. Farmers and folks, when food is expensive, sell it at a low price to prevent the people from starvation.”

"After a few years, the market has roughly formed, that is, one tael of silver buys one stone of rice, and there will be twists and turns in each city, and it will not be affected much."

He said indifferently: "As for the unscrupulous merchants, the grain stores have sufficient financial resources and rely on the entire shogunate. If they want to fight, few merchants can fight against them. If Shanxi merchants and Donglu merchants fought back then, all major merchants would lose their money. I dare not underestimate the power of this town...Although there is no sudden profit, it is more stable and stable for a long time. Many merchants are unwilling to do anything...Moreover, Xuanfu Town has the crime of hoarding again, and many people have been killed. Scared……"

Li Banghua had to admit that Wang Dou had already done an excellent job in matters of people's livelihood.

Looking at the rest of the Ming Dynasty, merchants and gentry colluded, and the purchase price of autumn grain was set extremely low, and when it was not harvested, they set the price of grain sales at a very high level, so that the people suffered terribly. The stable price here is indeed a blessing for the people.

The two drank each other, and Li Banghua was quite satisfied with the taste of the food and wine.

At this time, it was also time for lunch after work, and I heard the noise outside. Group after group of workers from the factory rushed to the restaurants in the town to eat, and crowded the stalls of large and small restaurants. The spacious streets are also tightly packed.

The arrival of people of all colors made the town bustling. Li Banghua looked down from the window, and there were crowds of sewing girls outside. The same rough man next to him winked, laughed and whistled.

Those seamstresses were not afraid either, they would yell back and scold them, or glared at them. They were quite tough, and many of them were full of "grandmothers", which almost made Li Banghua unable to swallow the food.

Li Banghua knew that when refugees entered Xuanfu Town, they had to first go to the shelter, and then resettle them.Generally speaking, honest people from the countryside with a complete family and the ability to endure hard work will be included in the Tunpu, so as to maintain the pure benignity of the Tunpu.

However, the more people enter the country, what about the rest?They can only fend for themselves.Especially those who have no special skills are the main force in factories and mines, doing cheap and hard work that local people don't want to do.

From Li Banghua's point of view, these people, no matter men or women, are uneducated, evil-behavior, good and bad, the source of disaster.

In particular, the continuous flow of refugees entering and competing with these people for jobs will cause trouble sooner or later.

Of course, upstairs Li Banghua looked at him, he was so earnest, but these people on the street would not understand this, they were all laughing and joking, in groups of three or four, just eating in a hurry.

Although they eat frugally, the price of food here is not expensive, and there are many livestock farms, even many people have meat and eggs on the dining table.

Many sewing girls are still eating a kind of pasta called "Yongning City Fat Noodles". Li Banghua once saw the advertisement of this kind of pasta in the Xuanfu Times: "Yongning City Fat Noodles, you can eat two yuan for one copper yuan." It's a big bowl, with both vegetables and meat, Master Hou said it's good after eating it."

One copper round and two bowls, and the copper rounds in Xuanfu Town are generally "ten coins for each coin", which means that five coins are worth a bowl of noodles, and there are vegetables and meat. One bowl can be full, no wonder Many people are eating.

Thinking about what happened at the capital, seeing them all the way, and looking at these refugees who were originally migrant workers, they could eat meat even if they were full. Even in the rest of the Ming Dynasty, the landlords and rich peasants would not dare to eat like this, Li Banghua He shook his head and sighed: "The folk customs here are too extravagant, not the way to be frugal."

Ma Guoxi said with a smile: "Young people can also eat meat, and I can't blame the refugees for coming here."

……

After eating and drinking, Li Banghua, Ma Guoxi and others went downstairs and walked on the street. They were full of vicious people and frivolous women, which made Li Banghua quite uneasy and just wanted to leave this place quickly.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the corner ahead, and someone shouted: "There is a fight."

Then the surrounding people waited and gathered around one after another, and even many people from restaurants and noodle stalls ran out.

It is the nature of Chinese people to watch the excitement, and Li Banghua is no exception. He originally wanted to leave, but unconsciously, he walked up. Ma Guoxi and his entourage had to follow.

Going to have a look, the dark circle in front was already full of people, so Li Banghua had to stand in the back circle. He could vaguely see two factory owners in the middle. They were arguing and spitting. dispute.

Then their workers were mingling together. Fortunately, they were all bare-handed, without knives or sticks.

Unknowingly, Li Banghua stood forward and saw a group of people beside him, but they were the people from Baoanzhou that he saw in the restaurant.

They also gathered around to watch, some of them frowned, some drew their swords to protect their family and friends, and some complained: "There are so many beatings recently, call the police."

Some people were accusing the two factory owners: "Yang Da, Sun Er, what are you two doing? Why did you fight in the street? This is a serious crime!"

"Yeah, what are you waiting for? What's the matter, you can't sit down and talk about it, instigate the workers to fight, and be careful to be caught in the patrol room."

Yang Da and Sun Er were a little timid in the face of accusations from their fellow villagers. They were about to call it a day, when suddenly someone called: "The police are here."

Like birds and beasts scattered, people all over the street scatter in all directions with a bang. Many people under the two bosses who were united with each other ran away one after another. Into the shelter, ah, don't run, I will be unlucky if I run..."

A gust of wind came, and the officer's cap on Li Banghua's head disappeared immediately. Someone passed by Li Banghua and took his hat away. Not to mention, another unknown person bumped into Li Banghua in a hurry, almost hitting him. Staggered backward and fell out.

"My lord, let's go..."

Ma Guoxi and his entourage rushed up, held Li Banghua up, and also ran away.

It's not a good thing that the police come, and if the documents are checked at that time, it will be even more difficult to explain, so let's run away first.

They hurried like a lost dog, hurried like a fish slipping through the net, and ran out of the town in one breath. Only then did Li Banghua come back to his senses, and realized that he had lost his shoes at some point, and his hair was disheveled.

(End of this chapter)